THE Conservative hoping to be Cleveland's next elected police chief says a change is needed at the force to move away from "past controversies".

Matthew Vickers, who was selected last week as the party's candidate for Cleveland's Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) said he would also run a leaner, more cost-effective office than the incumbent Barry Coppinger.

"I think a change would be a good thing for Cleveland Police," he said.

"When commissioners were brought in we thought that would happen but people from the old Police Authority were still involved.

"A change is very much what is required. Cleveland Police have got a very bad reputation. It has had a lot of issues and controversies over the years.

"Its reputation has been tarnished by scandals and a change is necessary to move away from that. A lot of people have suggested that to me."

Mr Vickers, who was elected on to Stockton Council as a ward councillor for Hartburn in May, said he planned to make the force more efficient, ploughing more cash into frontline officers rather than spending money on bureaucracy.

He said the Government was "doing a lot of good things on policing" and that forces with Conservative PCCs in charge seemed to be performing better than others.

He added: "If we can free the officers up from bureaucracy and allow them to spend more time on policing then that will make a big difference."

Mr Vickers, a former retail manager for Woolworths and also once William Hague's agent, sits on the Cleveland Police and Crime Panel, which has the power to scrutinise the PCC.

He is running for the PCC election in May, with his main rival looking likely to be current PCC Barry Coppinger, who is understood to be re-running on the Labour ticket. However, this has not been confirmed.

The force was criticised by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary last month for the way it handles its money - and was told it needed to improve its financial planning.

But Mr Coppinger said the report was outdated and the force had "moved on considerably", while Chief Constable Jacqui Cheer claimed there were a "large number of factual inaccuracies" in the HMIC report and said external auditors had given the force a good bill of health in securing value for money.